Metal Humanity
by bbvampygrl
Summary: John/Cam! my first T:SCC story! rather fluffy.....i'm pretty sure it's a one shot, but if enough people reveiw i might continue.


Metal Humanity

John was sleeping peacefully in his own bed for the first time in weeks. Cromartie's body was still on the loose, and his mother was obsessed with the mysterious three dots, but he still felt amazingly relaxed, all things considered. As he slept he dreamed of all of the events of the previous afternoon.

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He and Cameron were walking into their home after another day at High School. John, as always, was exasperated; with school, and with Cameron. He understood that he needed to attend school so that he and his family could stay under the radar for as long as possible, but it just seemed like a bunch of wasted time. All those hours during the week could be better spent tracking down Cromartie and preparing for their stand against Skynet. Instead, he was sentenced to take part in the monotonous drudgery of High School history, chemistry, and calculus. It was positively maddening.

Then there was Cameron. There was so much that was screwed up with that friggin' robot that he just didn't understand. Like, what was the deal between her a Riley? He couldn't fathom the awkward stare-offs, or the fact that, whenever Riley was around, which was increasingly often, Cameron just had to hover around. You would almost think she was jealous, if Cameron wasn't a cyborg from the future. And there were those weird moments when she said things that were just human enough to creep him the hell out, but not enough to make him forget she was a robot. Whatever had malfunctioned in her chip, he needed to fix it. It was just all too confusing.

Cameron must have sensed something off in his brooding silence, for she stopped him just inside his bedroom door and asked, "What is wrong, John?"

John sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. He had too much experience in dealing with the stubborn machine to think that he could weasel his way out of this conversation. But, as was his nature, he tried anyway. "Nothing. Go away." He paused unhopefully and waited for her reaction.

Cameron tilted her head slightly to the side. With a simple, curt, "No," she shoved John, not unkindly, deeper into his room, all the way onto the bed. John, rather taken aback, could only mutter, "What the-

His robot protector ignored this of course, and gently sat down next to him before speaking. "You should let it out. Keeping feelings and thoughts inside your head for long periods of time leads to an unhealthy mental state. That, in turn jeopardizes the mission, and so the survival of the human race. So tell me what's wrong."

John sighed yet again. Reluctantly he answered, "It's your chip. Whatever is wrong with that thing, you're not the same. You are making mistakes, and," here, he paused, gauging her expression before continuing, "you get these weird, almost human,- phases. I can't trust you, and that completely freaks me out. YOU freak me out. So, I want to try and fix you." He took a long breath; revealing that much to a terminator felt foolish. He knew his mother would be very disappointed in him.

Cameron then moved even closer to John, who didn't quite know how to respond. He glanced nervously towards his slightly ajar door, and hoped that Sarah didn't bust in during this little confrontation. Or even worse, Derek. Derek would never actually kill him, but he could make John's life a living hell, not that it could get much worse.

Cameron snapped him back to the situation at hand as she put a hand on his leg. John was uncomfortable with how comfortable he was with her touch. "John, maybe the car explosion and my subsequent chip damage was a good thing. I may make mistakes occasionally, but I am beginning to develop a bit of humanity; I feel. I would not like to go back to what I was before. I am still just as good a fighter and protector, but now I can better appreciate what we fight for. You say that I am a machine; I should not feel anything. I agree. However, I can, and maybe that's the way it should be." Cameron finally got out all she needed to say at the moment, and looked at John, seeming to need to know his reaction.

John, for his part, was overwhelmed. Cameron's speech was incredibly bizarre. He found himself having to force himself to remember that she was, in fact, a terminator, albeit one sent to protect him. And yet, the things she had said, as well as the manner in which they had been voiced, seemed incredibly human, and rather vulnerable. As John gazed into her eyes, he thought he could detect a gleam, just a flicker, which revealed something buried deep within her metal endoskeleton. A gleam that betrayed something, a quality that was just one of the many things that made her markedly different from any other of her kind.

Without quite knowing what he was doing, john gathered Cameron into his arms and crushed her to him, knowing that his roughness would not harm her at all. In that moment, man clutching terminator, John felt a renewal of hope, as well as motivation, for fighting this battle for the future. He wanted others to have the opportunity to find the peace, companionship, and even love that he felt for this girl.

When John and Cam pulled apart, she smiled and said, "Let's just talk." And they did, until the dark hours of the night. When John finally felt his eyes drift close, even as he willed himself to stay awake, Cameron gently said, "Time to sleep, for you anyway." And John didn't protest. He was exhausted physically, as well as emotionally.

Before he drifted off, John was aware of two things. First, there was the fact that neither Sarah, nor Derek had disturbed the pair at all. That seemed very odd to him. Then, there was the rustle of the thick comforter as Cameron lightly lay next to him, and her final, soft whisper, "I'll watch over you." Blissfully, sleep came quite fast after that.

Finite


End file.
